General Discussion

BioWare listens:

Jay Watamaniuk Community Manager Joined: 19 Nov 2001 From: Edmonton, Alberta

Posted: Friday, 09 May 2008 06:44PM

There has been a lot of discussion in the past few days on how the security requirements for Mass Effect for PC will work. BioWare, a division of EA, wants to let fans know that Mass Effect will not require 10- day periodic re-authentication. BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us. The solution being implemented for Mass Effect for the PC changes copy protection from being key disc based, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive, to a one time online authentication. This system has an added benefit of allowing players to seamlessly play the game without needing the DVD in the drive. Key points--- •This solution allows gamers to authenticate their game on three different computers with the purchase of one disc. EA Customer Service is on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted. This will be done on a case-by-case basis by contacting customer support. • Games are authorized to the machine when the player installs and launches the software for the first time. • We’ve all had those times when the discs get lost or scratched and you can’t play a game you’ve bought because you need a working disc in the drive. With the new system players will no longer need the disc to play the game, but can instead simply retain the disc as back up for re-installation. FAQ--- Q: What is the difference between the old PC disc authentication solution and the new online model? A: Two things have changed: • First, authentication of discs has now gone from the physical format to the online format, freeing the need for consumers to have a disc in the drive at all times. • Second, with online authentication consumers now connect to the Internet the first time the game is launched and are required only to reconnect if they are downloading new game content. Q: Will EA or BioWare take any personal information from my computer during an authentication? A: Absolutely not. We do not take any personal information from your computer. The system simply verifies that a valid CD key has been provided and assigns that activation to that PC. Q: What happens when I’ve reached the maximum # of computers for my game and I need more, say due to theft of computer, computer crashes, etc? A: EA customer service is on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted. This will be done on a case-by-case basis by contacting customer support. Q: Why are BioWare and EA implementing this new authentication process? A: This serves to protect our software from piracy. It has the added benefit of allowing consumers to activate the game on multiple machines without needing the DVD in the drive when playing the game. Q: Did BioWare and EA change their mind on requiring that the game be re-authorized every 10 days? A: BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us. Q: If the game isn’t going to require an authentication every 10 days, will it ever require re-authentication? A: Only if the player chooses to download new game content.

It's a partial victory but it's better than nothing and it isn't totally over with quite yet... I wouldn't be surprised to see the 3 activations limit drop off but we shall see.

Just found out....

SPORE changes too:

http://kotaku.com/5008454/spore-to-use-online-authentication

"Despite some hand-wringing by fans, EA today announced that their hugely anticipated Will Wright game Spore will not make use of SecuROM's 10-day periodic re-authetication and instead use a modified version to require online authentication.

The announcement comes on the heels of news that Mass Effect will also be ditching the ten day re-authentication.

We wanted to let you know that we've been hearing your concerns about the online authentication mentioned earlier this week. I didn't want to head into the weekend without getting back to you with some information about how Spore is planning on using this new system.

A few things we wanted you to know:

— We authenticate your game online when you install and launch it the first time.
— We'll re-authenticate when a player uses online features, downloads new content or a patch for their game.
— The new system means you don't have to play with the disc in your computer. And if you are like me, always losing discs, this will be a huge benefit.
— You'll still be able to install and play on multiple computers.
— You can play offline.

We do hope that players will play online - sharing creatures, buildings and vehicles with other players is something that is unique to Spore and one of the coolest features of the game. Every day, when I play the Creature Stage, I get to see wacky and awesome new creatures from my Buddies on the team coming over the hill at me and I can't wait to see what happens when our creative, passionate community starts sharing their creations.

Sounds like Electronic Arts got the message, here's hoping that other publishers do too."

--Nothing mentioned about a limited number of activations on SPORE... if SPORE won't be doing that I hope MEPC joins SPORE on that note.

Originally posted by maskedweasel

 

Originally posted by baff

However if the game is very exciting I may buy it anyway. Or if the game has all the features I am looking for, the chances are I will buy it anyway.

I could list any number of PC games that I had pre-ordered and cancelled once I found out about their protection schemes.

 

As an IT consultant I strongly advise my corporate clients to install Windows from a pirated copy and not their original discs. I feel the same about games.

Everybody has the right to hack their software to tailor it to their own specific systems. Both moral and legal. This is a right enshrined in software copywright law.

What they don't have the right to do is hack it to steal the secrets of the code for commercial purposes, (educational is fine, adaptive is fine), and they don't have the right to reproduce and distribute it without the creators permission.

 

@Masked Weasel, the only thing that is preventing me from buying Company of Heroes Op, is it's copy protection. Unlike Steam, it prevents me from installing the game on multiple machines and playing them on my LAN.

Also the last thing I want to do is update my game everytime I log in. All I want to do is get it working, and then leave it well alone. I don't want to have to sit through an hour of "balance" patching when the game already works fine.

My Steam games once installed are then set to offline mode. never again to be updated, never again to be authenticated.

Oh, and I already don't need to have the CD in the drive, I've never needed to have the CD in the drive. I don't own an Xbox, I don't own a Playstation, I have a PC, (with a **gasp** harddrive). All the PC's I've ever owned have had a hard drive. Some of the early MMX games needed a CD in the drive to play the movie sequences from, but these days my HDDs are somewhat larger than the 170 MB ones.

Okay number one, the items posted in red.  You must be the worst IT Consultant I've ever heard of.  You can't install Windows from a pirated copy, it's against the law, and any company you do this for can be audited and shut down.  I've worked for companies where employees called in software violations and not only are their IT people held accountable, but the people that call them in get money for it. 

 

Pirated copies of Windows and actual copies of windows are two separate things. You can make a backup copy of a Windows disk, but you cannot pirate.  Thats what their Microsoft Genuine Advantage Tool does, and it will mark your installations as bad.  Thats fine if thats how you want to work, but I know one thing, any company that allows for shoddy installations like that to go on won't be around for long. The only way to install free and clear legally is from a volume licensing disk.  You have to pay for your licenses.  If you're paying and putting in legitimate licenses then you aren't pirating. Pirated copies of windows use bum CDkeys to activate without the 30 day warning.  If your doing this and not purchasing your licenses then you're in deep.

Secondly, when you download a copy of a game you did not purchase, thats called pirating.  When you download code that disables software protections thats called malicious hacking.  You may as well be stealing.  If you own a game and use a NoCD fix, then that is okay.

As for your hard drive "bit" it doesn't matter if you own a hard drive or not, some games still require you to have the original CD.  There are a number of ways to get around that, and believe me I know them all, but wasting hard drive space on an ISO or using a virtual drive is pointless.. or wasteful is more like it, especially with the size of games nowadays, and finding a NO CD fix that works correctly is 50/50, and if you're going to make a Disc Copy then you may as well use the actual disc.  And IF you know how to crack it yourself, then it shouldn't be an issue.

All in all, everyone can do what they want with their own time. I know if I'm going to be playing a game it will be the full legitimate version, and it won't matter what kind of protection they use if I want to play it bad enough. 

Downloading a copy of game you do not own is called pirating, yes.

Disabling anti-piracy and the use of NO CD cracks is not malicious hacking. You can't maliciously hack your own computer.  Dur.

I do have a hard drive, and I am not required to keep the CD in drive. A game manufaturer may wish me to be required to do so, he may even take steps to force me to do so, but I never have been, nor do I see any reason to be. Copywright law agrees and has a specific amendment enshrining my right to adapt any protected code for compatability purposes.

This is the reason crack sites are legal. It is your right to use them.

How I configure my computer an my software on my computer is nobodies business but my own. If a game's publishers don't like it; really, who cares?

A game installation standardly uses the same amount of space on your hard drive whether you have the CD in the drive to play or not. I have not bought a game that runs from the disk in over 10 years. Placing the CD in the drive holds no benefits at all for the end user. Feel free not to do so. in fact I would advise you not to do so.

Personally I find cracks to be 100% reliable. Something that I cannot say about the anti-piracy measures they remove. Again publishers love to blame pirates for making their games crash, but in actuallity it isn't the pirates. They just produced a buggy game. It's a cop out response from the marketing department. "our games not buggy, only the pirated versions." There is one born every minute.

In my personal experience many many games are very buggy regardless of whether you run from disc or crack. However the addition of a crack is well known to cure the many widely experienced bugs found in common DRM solutions. 

Once again DRM provides no direct benefit to the end user and is often problematic. It usually may be removed without compromising the purpose of the software and as long as it is relatively simple to do so, I advise it. 

Windows Genuine Advantage can be turned off.

If your company enters into a lisence agreement with Microsoft, it may well find itself buying multi-lisences and all the rest.

However if your company buys the Windows software from a standard retail outlet, you have no lisence agreement with Microsoft whatsoever.  

By default, You are under no mult-lisence/single user agreement unless you specifically contact a Microsoft representative and enter into one.

Other than copywright, you have no legal obligation to Microsoft at all in a standard consumer relationship. Neither has Microsoft any legal obligation to you. Your contract of purchase is between the retailer and you alone. Most companies and most private individuals do not purchase direct from Microsoft.

The deal you choose to make should depend on the size of your company and your IT dept, the price and the level of support you expect to require.

Microsoft on the other hand does have contractual obligations with the retailers of it's products and typically does have a lisence agreement with them. The usual one is that Windows is not allowed to be sold without the computer to go with it. (An OEM copy of Windows is often sold very cheapily, as opposed to a retail version which can cost hundreds of pounds but be sold individually).

Disgruntled employee's are a definite risk for any company and events I have had deal with in my work, if however that company owns a legitimate copy of their software they have nothing to worry about.

You are either a scaremongerer or a victim of scaremongering.

While very strictly speaking you are correct and you if you install from a pirated version you are breaking the law, this is something of a legal grey area since Microsoft will not be willing to publicly concede that it's End User Lisence Agreement has no legal basis in court. 

Courts however are not provided for our entertainment. When the software manufacturer has already recieved payment for the software used, no judge is likely to respond kindly to an expensive suit for damages when no damages have been done and no jury will ever convict.

I'm not aware of any cases of companies being prosecuted for using a downloaded version of a software they can provide the disc for.

Essentially speaking anti-piracy measures included in many softwares have very questionable legality themselves. So far, whenever challenged in court, all games companies (and even some music ones) have been forced to remove them. We are not legally required to use the DRM in our games, in fact it is not especially legal to include many of them in the first place. As gamers and software users we accept DRM packages out of mutual self intrest, not legal precedence.

We do so by consent alone and not legal requirement.

If you personally wish to be legally bound by the publishers terms and conditions all you need to do is get in touch with them personally and agree to do so. Verbally over the telephone would be enough, although in writing would be better for them. You then just need a written or verbal confirmation from one of their representatives that they have accepted your lisence application; and grats! you have successfully waived your consumer rights.

 I get paid as a percentage of the money I save the company, not by the hour.

I'm not only fully accountable and responsable for the IT services I provide, I guarentee them. I'm more than willing to be held accountable. I'm proud to be.

Originally posted by baff